The present invention relates to a knock down shipping container made of panels usable at the shipping destination in building construction and in particular to the corner posts used to attach adjacent upright walls of the shipping container to one another and to form vertical columns for stacking of multiple containers.
Large shipping containers of lengths between 20 and 53 feet are commonly used for long distance shipping of goods by truck, rail, boat or airplane. Such shipping containers provide for relatively easy handling of the goods during shipping and have resulted in the development of standard size containers. The containers have been developed with standard features for attaching multiple stacked containers and for anchoring the containers to a shipping vessel. One disadvantage in the use of shipping containers is the return shipment of empty containers or the storage of empty containers at the shipping destination until the container is needed. Furthermore, typical metal shipping containers weigh several thousand pounds which significantly adds to the total weight of the shipment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a knock down shipping container that can be disassembled at the shipping destination to avoid storage or return of empty containers.
It is a feature of the shipping container of the present invention that the walls of the container are constructed of panels that can be readily used as a building material at the shipping destination.
It is a further feature of the shipping container of the present invention that the side wall panels are of a light weight composite construction significantly reducing the weight of the shipping container of this invention by approximately one third the weight of a comparable sized conventional container.
The shipping container of this invention is constructed of a plurality of composite panels with several panels joined together to form walls of the container which are larger than the individual panels. The container includes bottom and top walls, two upright side walls and two upright end walls which are joined together at their edges to form a generally rectangular prism shaped shipping container. At the four upright corners where the side walls are joined to the end walls, corner posts are used to join the walls and to form vertical columns for supporting container stacking loads. The corner posts include inner and outer brackets which are joined together by connectors extending through the side and end walls. At the top and bottom of each of the corner posts, the outer brackets include corner fittings. In a preferred embodiment, the corner fittings are ISO specified fittings for securing multiple stacked containers to one another and in securing containers to a shipping vessel as well as to facilitate intermodal handling during shipment.
In a preferred embodiment, the composite panels are formed of inner and outer skins of wood sheets such as oriented strand board (OSB) with a core of expanded polystyrene (EPS) or other rigid foam for a light weight container. At the edges of each panel, a portion of the EPS core is removed and a wood core is inserted to provide strength to the panel and to protect the EPS core. The panels are connected together with fasteners extending through the solid wood cores at the panel edges. Such a composite panel can readily be used in building construction, providing a strong structure and a well insulated sheathing for the exterior of a building.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.